Kendra Princess of the Apes
by LoveGarden22
Summary: A story of how Tarzan's Daughter grew, lived and about her amazing adventures in the jungle. Rated T to be Safe. No flames, please. I do not own the Tarzan Characters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: You'll be in my Heart

Tarzan was looking at the bundle in his wife's arms. He took a few steps toward her to look at the sleeping baby. The baby was wrapped in a blanket, his blanket in fact. The baby opened her eyes, and Tarzan was suddenly staring at the portrait of himself he had found years ago.

His wife looked at him as he gazed at the child curiously, she smiled and offered the bundle to him, "Would you like to hold her, Tarzan?" she asked him quietly.

Tarzan thought about it for maybe around five seconds before nodding his head in response. While taking his daughter in his arms Jane instructed him on the proper way to hold a baby. Tarzan didn't see what the big deal was, considering his adoptive mother always held him no matter which way and he turned out fine. Yet, he did what she asked without fail.

As he held the tiny person in his arms, the little babe reached out towards him and clutched his finger, her hand barely covering half. She had a strong grip, and held on tightly to him as if not wanting to let go. He decided right then that he would never abandon this child.

He loved her as much as he loved anyone; the difference was that she couldn't protect herself...yet. She was a part of him, and a part of Jane, she would be both. As long as they all lived he swore that he would teach his daughter everything he knew. That way she could learn, grow, and live to be the very best.

_Come stop your crying_

_It will be alright_

_Just take my hand_

_Hold it tight_

_I will protect you_

_From all around you_

_I will be here_

_Don't you cry_

_For one so small,_

_You seem so strong_  
><em>My arms will hold you,<em>

_Keep you safe and warm_

_This bond between us_

_Can't be broken_

_I will be here_

_Don't you cry_

'_Cause you'll be in my heart_

_Yes, you'll be in my heart_

_From this day on_

_Now and forevermore_

_You'll be in my heart_

_No matter what they say_

_You'll be in my heart, always_

"Tarzan," Jane asked after a minute, "What do you want to call her?"

Tarzan hadn't thought about a name for her yet, so quickly he came up with, "Kendra." He told Jane,

"Kendra..." Jane thought, "That's very nice. It's original, and it's unique. It is also a lot like you." Jane smiled and hugged her family.

From that day forward, their baby would be known as, "Kendra: Princess of the Jungle."

**A/N: Sorry that the chapter is so short, but I don't have too much experience with babies. I mean, I've held one before, but I don't remember the feeling. I do however know what it's like to love someone fully, so I tried my best to illustrate that feeling. I do not own these characters, which should be obvious by how poorly I portray them. Tell me what you think in the review section.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Basic Survival skills,

_4 years later_...

I awoke in the morning to the rising of the sun. I sat up in my hammock as I listened to life in the jungle. All the night animals were going to sleep, and all the day animals were waking up. I had to wake up with the sun because otherwise I would hardly see my father at all. He was the king of the jungle; he had responsibilities all over the place. Meanwhile I on the other hand wasn't allowed to go anywhere.

I was only four years old, and my mother worried about my safety. I had never really left home except to go visit my grandfather. When I went to visit him I wasn't allowed to touch anything. Most of the time my company came to visit me in my family's tree house. My most common visitors were Auntie Terk and her friends, Mr. Tantor, and sometimes Manu the baboon. Occasionally we had human visitors, but I didn't get to talk to them much.

Most of my days I spent walking around the ground of the tree house picking flowers. It was rather boring. I looked forward to when my mother would let me help her around the house, even if it meant I was stuck inside again, just because it gave me something to do.

I loved my mother, even if I did think she was being silly. She never let me do anything. When visiting Professor Grandpa she never let me touch any of his experiments, she never let me wander too far away from home even though she was allowed to, I was never allowed to go too close to the railing on the balcony, I wasn't allowed to touch the tea kettle, it was always no, no, no!

I knew she cared about my safety, but nothing bad had ever happened to me. It wasn't just because I always listened to her. The rules were put in place because I did all those things. Whenever I did nothing bad happened. I never got burned, or fell, or got lost, but my mother was afraid that I would if I did it again so she said no.

My mother meant well. She would place me on her lap and tell me stories of how she grew up far away in a land called England, and things were very different there than they were where we lived. She was raised differently than my father, and she was trying to raise me in the same way. She wanted me to be like her. She wanted me to be a lady.

There was nothing wrong with that. My mother was one of the nicest, most genuine, and beautiful people I knew. I didn't know many people though. Even if she did want me to be like her, it didn't stop me from playing with her paints, knocking books off the shelves, or knocking over potted plants and tables as I played running around the house.

Even though I loved my mother and saw her more often, I really looked forward to seeing my father every day. My aunt said that I look a lot like he did at my age, with my messy hair and loincloth around my waist. My mother would be a little put off by that statement, but it made me happy. I wanted to think I was a lot like him.

I didn't really enjoy my mother's etiquette lessons or her reading or writing or math lessons. I would often find myself looking out the window whenever she was teaching. I would often wonder what my father was doing.

Some days he'd be here with my mother and me, and we'd spend time together, sometimes he went out with my mother and I was left with someone else. Other days he was away doing his jungle duties. I didn't mind him doing that. It reassured me how important he was. A lot of people and animals counted on him.

I especially loved the moments when it was him and me. Mommy would be away doing something else, like laundry, or picking fruit, or helping Professor Grandpa, and Daddy would be left to look after me. Daddy let me do things. He let me ride elephants, or go near the railing. He let me hold onto his back as he climbed around. He let me rough house with the other apes. I had fun when I was with him. I was afraid of telling mommy though, because I was afraid she wouldn't let me hang out with daddy anymore.

That's why I enjoyed seeing him so much. However, today was different. Daddy was home today. At least I thought so. He got out of bed later than usual, and I had to wait for him to wake up. When he still wasn't getting up, I crawled out of my hammock, and tiptoed over to their bed. I peaked over the side of it, and jumped on top of him.

My father's quick reflexes took over and caught me as I landed on him. He hugged me and threw me upward, before bringing me close and nuzzling my nose. "Did I scare you daddy?" I asked him while giggling,

"No, not really." He said, I knew that he'd say that. My daddy wasn't scared of anything.

"Aw..." I sighed, "I was hoping to scare you." I admitted,

"Well, you are going to have to try a lot harder than that to scare your father Kendra." Murmured my mother, "Another early start I see." She said getting out of bed,

"Daddy, I woke up before you today!" I told excitedly,

"You sure did!" he agreed as he got out of bed, and I grinned,

"I need to wake you up so you can go out and be with the animals every day." I told him, he nodded in response, as we headed out for breakfast. I had shared a room with my parents ever since I was a baby. As my mother prepared some plates of fruit for our breakfast I pulled on my father's arm,

"What are you going to do today, Daddy?" I asked him,

"Well, I was thinking...that you could come with me today." He told me,

I stood frozen in shock. I blinked a few times, and I looked over to my mother. I expected her to refuse this, but instead she was eyeing us with caution and nodding. I looked back at my father in confusion. Was I dreaming? Did I really beat my father at waking up today, or was I still in my bed? I never thought this day would come. I felt a smile creep onto my face.

"Really?! Spend the entire day with you?!" I asked happily,

"Yes." He said nodding,

"Wow! Can I really go mom?" I asked her,

"Of course," she said with a smile, but then she pursed her lips, "But make sure to be careful."

"Yay! Yes, yes, yes! I get to go with daddy! Yes!" I shouted,

"Well, don't act too excited." My mother said smirking, and I calmed down a little. "When do we get to go?" I asked him, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"How about right now?" he asked,

"Yay!" I said grinning ear to ear, and I put my arms around his neck as he ran out the door and began swinging through the trees. I looked back at my family's tree house. It looked so big from far away. From the balcony I could see my mother waving and hear her shouting, "Have fun!" into the wind. I smiled, and hugged my father's neck even tighter.

After swinging through the trees a little bit, we stopped in a clearing. Daddy set me on the ground. "Why are we stopping here?" I asked him confused,

"There's just something here I thought you might want to see." He told me. I looked around. As far as I could tell, all there was were trees and grass; I could see that from the tree house. "What is it?" I asked him, he smiled and walked over to a vine. "You'll see." He told me, and then he gave a sharp tug on the vine causing the tree it was connected to the bend and snap back.

"Ooh, a bendy tree." I said thinking that's what he wanted to show me,

"There's more." He said, and suddenly a bunch of brightly coloured wings fluttered out of the tree. I had seen these occasionally by the tree house, what did mother call them?

"Butterflies..." I said in awe, they were beautiful. Some butterflies came down and landed on my back and head, their antennae tickling my face causing me to giggle.

"There's plenty more to see." He told me.

After that, Daddy took me to the tops of the trees to see a bunch of rainbow coloured birds. They seemed to like me too, coming to perch on my arms and head, nipping at my fingers and nuzzling my nose.

Then, he took me across the jungle to look at the waterfalls. The view was amazing! I leaned over the edge to try and take some mist, or possibly some water to drink. I slipped and fell, but my father caught me by my loincloth. This was another reason my mother was being silly. Nothing bad could happen to me with my father around.

Then, he took me over to the watering hole. I saw Mr. Tantor...up close! Mother had never let me too close to Tantor because she was afraid he might step on me or sit on me. She was not being irrational either, because he had done that to Auntie Terk before. I had never really gotten a good look at him, and it wasn't like I could just talk to him from the balcony because I could not understand half of the things he said.

I actually got to spend time with the other elephants. He let me ride on the elephants backs again, which was fun. The elephants did not mind either, because I weighed hardly anything to them, and it was not like I was telling them where to go, I did not really care where they took me.

When I wasn't riding the elephants or talking to them, my father was teaching me how to swim.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mr. Tantor asked,

"She needs to know how to swim." My father countered,

"But she's only four...you were twice her age when you learned." Mr. Tantor argued back.

"Yes, but you were only three when you learned how to swim." My father said,

"True, but I'm an elephant, I spend eighty percent of my time in the water." He said,

"Swimming isn't that hard, when I learned I just fell in the water and figured it out." he said,

"Yeah, we all remember that day." Said a gruff voice, my aunt had just shown up.

"Auntie Terk!" I cried as I ran over and gave her a hug,

"Hey, kiddo!" she said as I started climbing her fur, "Ah! Easy on the fur, your pulling!" she shouted as I giggled, my aunt was funny.

"It wasn't that bad." My father stated,

"You scared all of us half to death!" My aunt argued, I picked a mite out of her fur when I was sitting on her back, and I dangled it in front of her face.

"Eh? Not now kid, I'm talking. You can eat that if you want." She said waving me off. I stared at the mite for a second before popping it in my mouth. It was...squirmy. It was not the first time I had eaten bugs, but of course the first time I had done it my mother shrieked at the top of her lungs.

"I came out of that incident fine." He reminded her, "And I got the elephant winning the dare." He told her smirking,

"Yeah, yeah, forever proving you could hang out with us, blah, blah, blah. We all know the story." It was true, even I knew the story.

"But Tarzan, this is your daughter, this is not you." Tantor Pushed further,

"That's right!" I piped in, "I am his daughter, I can do anything he can do!" I exclaimed,

"Kid, you're missing the point here." Auntie Terk pointed out, I climbed off of her back and looked her in the face, standing as tall as I could,

"I can do it!" I said determined,

"That's the spirit!" My dad said, as he picked me up and held me in his arms, the other two gave up. "Alright, if you say you can do it then you can do it. Just remember kid, your dad's right here if you need him." My aunt reminded me, and I nodded. I knew that. My dad walked towards the water with me.

"I'm just saying, Misses Tarzan isn't going to like this." Tantor added,

"Okay Kendra, just jump in!" My dad said, and that was it.

I looked at the water; it suddenly looked a lot deeper than before. I stared at it for maybe a minute. From behind me I could hear the others whisper.

"I don't think she'll do it." My aunt whispered, "Maybe she needs a push?" she suggested,

"You'll do fine!" My father assured me. I took a deep breath. I was Kendra, daughter of Tarzan King of the apes. That made me Princess of the apes. That made me a jungle dweller, like him. If he could do it, I could do it!

I bit my lip, sucked in my gut, backed up a little, held my breath, and ran towards the water. When I got close, I jumped and flew through the air. I tucked in my legs and fell towards the water as a ball. Then I submerged.

It felt cold, refreshing from the hot muggy air. I was almost afraid to open my eyes, but then my curled up body hit the bottom. I uncurled, and opened my eyes slowly. My vision was blurrier, but I could still make out most things. I was shocked at the sight that I gasped, and then realized I couldn't breathe water. I was surrounded by many green plants, coloured rocks, fish, elephant feet, and more importantly, a hippo that almost ran into me before I scurried out of the way.

My daddy was right; this was pretty easy to figure out. After I got away from the hippo I figured out how to move. I was swimming through the water, and it felt amazing. I couldn't go far however, my arms were too small. I was running out of breath. It wasn't the first time I had held my breath. I had done it when throwing tantrums at home, but I still wasn't used to it. I started to swim towards the surface.

As I got closer to the top I could hear more things. I heard my family talking. "Oh no! She's been down there a long time! She might not come up!" I heard Tantor say,

"You might have to go down and get her, T." Auntie Terk said,

"Wait a minute, look." My dad said pointing to the water, right before I came up smiling. "Daddy, daddy, look at me, I'm swimming!" I told him happily,

"I knew you could do it!" He told me, I knew it too. Tarzan was my father.

"This is amazing!" I shouted from the water, as I swam around in circles.

"Way to go, Kendra!" Auntie Terk shouted, I swam over to the side of the water and my dad helped me get out. Once out, I shook myself off getting Auntie Terk all soaked. She did not look happy about that. It caused the rest of us to laugh.

After the watering hole, my father took me to see the gorilla nesting grounds. I rode on my daddy's back since it was a long walk for someone my age. My father walked this time so he could spend some time with his friends.

"Why aren't we swinging on the vines?" I asked him,

"I thought it would be better for us to walk." He told me,

I pouted a little, I liked it when we were swinging on the vines, it felt almost like flying. "I wish I knew how to swing on vines." I told him,

"Well, maybe you can learn." He told me,

"Really, that would be great!" I told him,

Auntie Terk gave us a questioning look, "Again, Tarzan, I don't know if that's such a good idea. I mean, look at her little arms." She said,

"Well, you said my mommy had little arms and she knows how to swing on a vine." I argued,

"Yeah, but your arms are even smaller!" she said,

"You said I wouldn't be able to swim and I managed that just fine." I reminded her,

"Just because you're good at one thing doesn't mean you need to go get yourself a big head." She told me,

"If she thinks she can do it, then she'll be able to do it...with time." My dad said, "With time?" I asked,

"It's not as easy as it looks, even I didn't get it right away at first." He told me, "Well, maybe I'll be special." I told him, and he chuckled. "Maybe you will be." He agreed.

Once we made it to the nesting grounds, I was suddenly filled with wonder. I was now being shown a secret within the jungle and my family. I understood how my mother felt being shown this area for the first time. I could wonder what it was like for my father to grow up here.

It was well spread out. There were nests covering the ground for as far as the eye could see, but there were also gorillas sitting and resting in the trees. Their nests consisted of leafy piles constructed from the leaves around them, so it made sense for the gorillas to climb the trees. I understood that, I had seen Auntie Terk climb up to the Tree house, and I had seen my father climb most often.

When the gorillas saw me, they were filled with the same sense of wonder. I could tell by their eyes. All of them stared as I got off of my father's back and rushed forward on two legs, my head moving from side to side as I looked all over. Swarms of gorillas came forward to get a better look at me.

I sat in the middle as they picked me up by my legs and held me upside down; they sniffed me and picked bugs out of my hair. The whole experience tickled and caused me to giggle. I have to say I enjoyed to attention.

My father didn't go unnoticed either. He was the leader of the group. Gorillas came over to him and talked to him about me. I was bilingual, so I could understand them.

"So...This is your kid, then?" asked a big male gorilla.

"Yeah, her name's Kendra." My father said happily,

"It's a girl?" he asked dumbfounded,

"Oh yeah, she's a girl." Said the gorilla who held me upside down,

"Really, the resemblance is uncanny." He said,

"I think she does that on purpose." Auntie Terk chimed in, "She wants nothing more than to be just like her daddy." She explained,

"I don't see what's so wrong with that." My father shrugged,

"Neither do I." Said a gentle female voice, I turned and saw an older female gorilla. I immediately knew who it was from my parents' descriptions.

"Grandmother Kala!" I shouted excitedly, and I flipped to get out of the gorilla's grip. Once I was standing on his arm, I jumped off and bounded towards her on all fours before giving her a big hug. She hugged me back, and I felt very safe in her strong arms.

"It looks like someone has been wanting to meet you." Auntie Terk said,

"And I you, Kendra." She told me, and I hugged her even tighter. She picked me up by one arm and placed me on her back before walking over to my father.

"I have to say, I admire the name you gave her." She told him,

"Thank you, I was thinking of you when I chose it." He confessed,

My grandmother smiled, "So what brings you around here?" she asked him,

"I wanted to show Kendra the nesting grounds. She's spending the day with me today." He explained,

"Wasn't that nice of you." My grandmother replied nodding, I leaned over her shoulder to look her in the face, "I'm gonna learn how to swing on a vine." I told her, and immediately she looked troubled.

"Tarzan, you know how long it took you to learn how to do that." She said to him, and he shrugged nervously, "I know...but Kendra thinks she'll be special." He admitted,

"I know I will be!" I said pounding my chest like my father. He chuckled at the impersonation, but my Aunt just snorted. "Please! I doubt she can even climb to the top of that tree let alone swing on a vine! She's not strong enough!"

I narrowed my eyebrows at her, "I'm strong enough to take you down!" I insisted, and with that I leaped off of Grandma Kala's back and lunged at Auntie Terk with enough force to push her over. I succeeded, but I wasn't strong or heavy enough to hold her down so she just sat up again causing me to slide off.

"Nice try, kid." She said. I pouted,

"Well, I can still do it!" I insisted, "You watch!" With that I ran over to the nearest tree. I looked upward. This tree was a lot taller than me. I couldn't even see the top! As far as I could tell there were quite a view vines above me. I nodded, this was a good tree. I gripped the bark and started to climb.

"This can't be good." Mr. Tantor said,

"She can do it." My father said. I let that fill me with confidence. This was a lot harder than I thought. There weren't a lot of things to grab, and I didn't have a lot of experience climbing. However, I had wrestled with my father and Auntie Terk before. I was not weak!

I managed to climb two feet up the trunk of the tree...before I lost my gripping and fell down. I landed on my back, and it hurt, but luckily there was a pile of leaves to break my fall.

"Owie!" I yelled, everyone immediately rushed over to see if I was alright. I dried my tears and brushed them off. "I'm fine! I can get it!"

"Kendra...its okay if you have a little help." My father said,

"That's not fair! You didn't have any help!" I told him,

"Well..." Auntie Terk said slowly. I figured out what she was inferring, and I was silently impressed. All this time I had thought my aunt was a big meanie for not believing in me, but when my dad had trouble she helped him out. It was possible that she did have my well being at heart.

"How about we give you a lift for now?" my father suggested, and I relented with a timid nod. So I put my arms around my father's neck as he climbed the tree. When we made it to the branch with vines I got off. I stood on the branch as my father stood behind me. He pulled down a vine from the tree, and started teaching me how to swing.

"First, you have to know if the vine is a good vine. The vine has to be strong enough to hold your weight. The vine can't be too thin or it will snap while you're swinging, and it can't be too thick or it won't swing too far. This one should be good." He handed the vine to me and grabbed it,

"Make sure to hold on tightly with both hands. When you see another vine to grab onto, let go with one hand but tighten your grip with the other. Then you reach out and grab the other vine, once you've got it hold on good and tight and loosen your grip with the other hand. Let go of the first vine and transfer your other hand so you've got two hands on the next vine." He pointed ahead to the tree across from us,

"When you want to stop swinging plant your feet on the branch or the ground or wherever you're swinging, hold on to the vine until you stop swinging, and then let go. You understand?" he asked me. To be honest, I didn't catch a word of what he said, but I nodded. I wanted to try. I held onto the vine tightly, and he gave me a push off of the branch.

I held on tightly as I swung through the air, squealing at the top of my lungs. I was going so fast that I forgot to reach out for the second vine, and I missed my stop. So instead I flew backwards towards my father. I didn't dare let go, so instead I just kept swinging forwards and backwards like the thing inside our grandfather clock. I kept swinging until finally I stopped. I wasn't moving and I wasn't trying to let go. Then I felt myself slipping.

"Help!" I cried out, and then I ran out of vine. I fell towards the forest floor, only to be caught by the trunk of Mr. Tantor. I was reminded that I wasn't in any real danger. With my father here, and his friends, and all the gorillas, they would make sure nothing bad ever happened to me, and I had no reason to be afraid.

Mr. Tantor passed me down to my Auntie Terk, who then gave me a ride back up to the tree branch with all the vines. "Shall we try again?" my father suggested, and I nodded enthusiastically.

Over the next few hours I never managed to swing properly once. I made every mistake known to my father. One time I let go too soon, another time I let go too late, another time I hit the tree in front of me, another time I hit the tree behind me, one time the vine snapped, another time I got tangled in a knot, other times tree branches hit me in the head, other times in the stomach. However, whenever I was about to fall to my doom someone would catch me. Either my Grandmother Kala, Auntie Terk, Mr. Tantor, or my father.

By the end of the day, my arms had gotten a good work out, along with my stomach muscles. Even though my hands weren't big or strong enough to hold onto or grab a vine, they had also gotten a work out. My fingers, arms, stomach, back and tushie were sore. I was really tired, and I fell asleep while riding home on my father's back.

I was half awake when we got back to the tree house.

"Good heavens, what did you two do today?" my mother asked,

"I took her around the jungle. I taught her how to swim. I took her to nesting ground, tried to teach her how to swing on a vine. By the end of it she fell asleep."

"Well of course, it sounds like she did a lot for someone her age. She is only four! Some of the things you taught her are meant for those who are older." My mother explained.

"Swimming and swinging? I did that when I was a kid." My father explained,

"Yes, but Kendra isn't you." My mother pointed out, and shifted uncomfortably in my sleep upon hearing that.

"I wouldn't say that to Kendra, she's dead set on being just like me." He explained, I couldn't see well, but I could tell my mother was giving him a look. "Kendra had fun today, and she would like to go back again." He explained. I thought at this point my mother would argue with him, but she just sighed.

"I do want her to go back. It would be nice for her to see the gorillas more often. I like that she enjoyed herself. I just want her to be safe." She explained,

"Don't worry, she's like me. She can handle herself. Besides, I'll never let anything happen to her." My father told her,

"Well, as long as you're with her, I guess it's alright." She said. Then my father took me inside and put me to bed. My mother kissed my forehead, and I smiled. I was overjoyed by the prospect of returning to the jungle again. It felt like my home was so much bigger than I realized. I wanted to see my grandmother again. But I also wanted to improve on my skills so one day I would be just like my father. I would be _Kendra,_ _Princess of the apes._

**A/N: Hello anyone who hasn't given up on me! Sorry that it's been so long, but writer's block is the worse, and of course life got in the way. Anyway, now for anyone wondering who the male gorilla who talks to Tarzan is, I was implying that he was one of Terk's friends from the first movie. However I do not know their names and neither does Kendra so I just left him unnamed. I don't know when I'll get to the next chapter, but I do know when I do it will take place four years after this when Kendra is eight years old. In that chapter her wardrobe will change from a simple loincloth like her father's to more of a dress like the professors loincloth in the end of the movie. Until then, see you later.**


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